I'll Bleed For You
by Joriel
Summary: Duo makes the ultimate sacrifice, but how will Relena and Heero take it?


How did this happen?  
  
I just don't understand. I watched you sit on top of live torpedos and launch them from beneath you. I saw you leap from a building twenty stories high and not open the chute til way too late. I was there the day you self destructed your gundam, standing tall and proud on the open hatch, not even thinking about using the handhold to get down.  
  
Today I can't understand how I'm seeing you, my brain is screaming that my eyes are lying. That this cannot be happening. You are not really lying on that hospital bed with all those tubes and lines hooked into your body. You're not really dying in front of me.  
  
And yet...there you are.  
  
Damn! There is no blood these days, people cannot donate fast enough to keep up with the casualties of war that fill up the hospitals across the Earth. I even heard a rumor that Zechs and Relena worked together to pull off a mercy tour of the colonies to send some of their blood supply to hospitals on earth. They gave as much as they could without putting themselves in our position, we are grateful.  
  
Right now it's just not enough. Heero is still dying of blood loss in front of me. The nurse is finally coming in.  
  
"I will bleed for you," I tell Heero gently.  
  
The nurse looks up at me oddly, her dark eyes going wide at how I chose to word it. But I'm a genetic match for Heero's type of blood, and I will be damned if I let him die in front of me. No matter what it takes...I will save one person.  
  
I will undo all the blood and screams that rest on my soul by saving someone. And Heero will wake up and smile at Relena and realize he loved her all this time, and they will get married and live happily ever after.  
  
Someone needs to. I'm in love with them both, this is all that I can give them. I will save him. My blood will be a part of him forever, and that will be enough in the empty days to come. He has to love Relena, what is there not to love? She has grown so much into a strong, lovely young woman from the whiny and self-centered girl we once knew. And we all know she loves him. No room for a lost streetrat here.  
  
"Lay down, Mr. Maxwell," the nurse tells me quietly, as if she fears waking Heero up. Doesn't she know that if we could wake him up, I wouldn't need to lay down? The thought is funny somehow to me, and I laught quietly as I follow her orders. She is looking at me again, probably concerned for my sanity. I'm okay, lady, I'm just a killer lost in a place of healing. I don't belong.  
  
A tiny prick, a few clicks as she sets the machine that will draw blood from me and put it into Heero's veins, and the red liferiver begins to flow. I watch it, fascinated. I'm actually doing it, I'm saving someone's life.  
  
"I have to go check on some other critical patients, Mr. Maxwell, but don't worry. The computer here is set to stop at the maximum amount of blood we can safely draw from you and switch back to the saline by itself."  
  
She is so cheerful as she gives me a comforting pat on the arm, and says something about how wonderful a friend I am to try to help. There is something in her eyes...it won't be enough. Like the colonies, the safe amount won't be enough. Fear closes around my heart.  
  
I turn my head so that I can watch him, watch my life flowing into him. Time slips by as I gaze upon his pale face, only the soft hum of the machine monitoring us both breaking the stillness. My eyes widen, there is a touch of color in his cheeks now! My blood is working in his body now, carrying oxygen to his cells, his brain, and most of all, his heart. I am keeping his heart beating...  
  
I love you Heero, I think quietly to myself. I love you, I bleed for you.  
  
It's not so bad really. Just that one little prick, and it doesn't hurt now. Which is good, I need to concentrate to do this right. I stand up a little wobbly, I guess I'm close to the maximum safe amount now. I"m not a doctor, but even I can see that it's just not enough. His face is still so pale, he needs more than I can safely give him.  
  
:"I will bleed for you, Heero, and for you too, Relena," I mutter as I begin reprogramming the machine. I change the amount that it will stop at, and lay back down to wait.  
  
It doesn't take as long as I thought it might. The room is getting darker, even though the blazing noon sun is coming in. He moved! Heero stirred in the bed across from me, and I think his eyes are opening. I don't know, I can't see anymore, only the darkness is with me now. That's okay too, I know that at last, it's enough. I bled for them, and it is enough. I changed fate, and gave Heero back to the others.  
  
  
  
Heero woke up groggily to hear people yelling all around him, something about blood loss. A woman was crying hysterically in the corner, swearing that she had set something correctly. Heero lifted his head weakly to ascertain what was going on.  
  
He was in a hospital, and there was some kind of emergency going on in the bed next to him. He couldn't see who was in it, too many medical people in his way. A nurse was in the corner staring at the bed in horror, still swearing she hadn't made a mistake, and she is praying now that it wasn't her. What is she so afraid of?  
  
And...why does it look like the iv in my arm is also connected to the other patient? Did they need my blood?  
  
A doctor moves and I see...Duo. His face is white and still, unlike any way I have ever seen him. What is going on? What is wrong with my Duo? "DUO!" I yell, trying to get his attention. He just lies there...  
  
Another nurse comes over to me. "I'm sorry, Mr. Yuy. We don't know how he did it..." she says softly, tears beginning to fall down her face. Why is she crying?  
  
"Do what?" I croak, my throat tight and aching.  
  
"You were in a coma, and there was nothing we could do for you. You must know about the terrible blood shortage, I remember you are one of our donors. Well, several people showed up to donote, but only Mr. Maxwell was compatible. You both have a rare blood type, you see. So he said he wanted to try, maybe just a little would be all you needed. So we hooked him to the transfusion monitor. It was set correctly...but somehow...he overrode it. He gave you...alll..." she breaks off, crying to hard to speak anymore.  
  
I stare at Duo's still face for a long time, not really understanding. Duo? You left me behind? You gave your blood to me??? WHY??  
  
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND DUO??" I scream at him, tears tracking down my face. I told him once that we shouldn't cry, but I can't stop the tears. The least I can do is cry for him. I loved him. All my heart was his...I just never had the courage to say so. And now he will never know. Some perfect soldier.  
  
  
  
Relena stared down at his pale, lifeless face laying on black satin in the coffin. It had taken an absolute tantrum on her part, but she'd gotten Duo the smooth black fabric to sleep in. She didn't care what custom or anyone's religion dictated, she knew what color Duo would have chosen if he designed his own funeral.  
  
She reached out to touch his lips softly, wishing just once she'd had the courage to kiss them before they were stilled forever. Once her infatuation with Heero had ended, she had found deep feelings for Duo that grew until there was nothing else in her dreams but him. His bright laughing eyes, his sweet smile, no beautifully wrought painting or piece of jewelry could compare. No political peace could compete with the serenity he could exude in quiet nights watching the moon with her.  
  
Why hadn't she told him? And why in the name of Heaven and Hell had he done what he did?  
  
She turned her tearful gaze to Heero sitting on a pew not far away, looking into his dead blue eyes. And Duo wanted her to marry him? The nurse had given her a letter from Duo that she had found in the bed next to his body. Duo had told her all about how he wasn't going to be in the way anymore, and that Heero would have to know he loves her when he woke up, so close to dying.  
  
"Love me Duo? No, we both loved you. You were what brought us close this past year, nothing else. This is all my fault, if only I had the courage to tell you!"  
  
She walked over to Heero then, and placed the letter in his hands. "Duo left this for me. I"m sorry, I can't honor his last wish. You'll understand why when you read it. I'm going home now, I can't bear to see him like this anymore. I know why he chose what he did...but please don't come near me again. I can't bear to see you...knowing he chose to die for you."  
  
Relena ran out of the church then, the tears she'd fought to hold in falling again. It would be tears for a long time.  
  
  
  
Heero read the note, and put it away in his pocket. How had Duo been so wrong? After the ceremony Heero followed the casket blindly until it was covered in dirt nad he couldn't see it anymore.  
  
He turned away to go find Quatre, he had lessons in living to take now. Quatre would be the best qualified to teach them he thought. Duo had bled for him, had made his life precious with the loss of Duo's own.  
  
Since he coudn't honor Duo's last wish, he would honor the one he had made when Duo was still here.  
  
"Heero, why don't you ever just LIVE? You know, have FUN! Hey, I'm talking to you!"  
  
"I'm sorry Duo, that I never heard you until just now. Sleep well, and wait for us both."  
  
"I will bleed for you, Heero, and for you too, Relena." 


End file.
